What is the best method to rid my property of coyote?
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Question by Krista: What is the best method to rid my property of coyote?
Yesterday, a coyote came into our yard and attacked a chicken right in front of us in broad daylight! My husband startled it and the coyote dropped the hen and she got away. My dog tracked the coyote and lead me straight to dead hen that was still warm and must have been caught just earlier. We took the hen back and placed her where the attack we witnessed took place and waited for the coyote all night. Never showed. I’m sure it will be back and with chickens, goat kids, cats, and other smaller livestock I am really worried about all of them. I have never been hunting, my husband has maybe five times, but has never had the heart to kill anything. I have no problem doing the deed. I just don’t know how to do it. Should I trap it? Call and hunt it? I live in the mountains of VA and the area is very rugged, wooded and steep. I talked to a trapper and at $ 300 a week wether they get a coyote or not I’m thinking we have to do this ourselves for the price of equipment. Given the environment what is the best method. Also, the trapper thinks that the coyote has a den nearby because it came back for more chickens. Should I search for the den? WTF do I do if I find it? My GSD is trained to track and will follow whatever I point him at so I’m fairly confident I can find the den if its close by. We have lived up here a year and a half w/out any predators what so ever. Just an occasional bear or three.
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8 Responses to What is the best method to rid my property of coyote?
Leave a Reply to TokeLover-WV Cancel reply
NEVER let your dog chase a coyote off your property; the coyote will lead the dog to it’s mates and they WILL kill the dog.
A common .22 calibre varmint rifle will take care of coyotes.
♋™இ™☠ ᎾNE TRlCK PᎾNY ☠™இ™♋
January 31, 2014 at 9:27 pm
I think noise is the only way unless you just want to kill w/e coyote comes on your property. if you dont want to kill them just shoot in the air to scare them off and after 1 or two nights the pack will stop to make coming over to your place a routine or a habbit. just dont let a dog loose onto them because the dog will protect your property but the coyote will kill it and eat it due to their numbers and team work.
Dwarvenlyf
January 31, 2014 at 9:42 pm
Put mouse traps with tuna on them all around the yard. (keep your cats away!) and you will probably hear the coyote yelping from being startled and pierced in the nose. This will most likely lock in his ead that your house is SCARY. An painful. But if that doesn’t work, you could try:
Putting some raw meat out there and watch for him from the window. When you see him, fire a shot in the air.
Calling animal control, if its a threat they will probably try to catch him.
Borrow a friends big dog, as big as you can get, but he has to be fenced in somehow. So the coyote can’t fight him, but the loud barking would scare him.
Kelly Gibson
January 31, 2014 at 10:04 pm
Coyotes are pretty transitory. There’s a good chance your property is already rid of those coyotes. If you didn’t have such a great food source in your yard, I’d be sure the coyotes were already long gone.
That’s not to say those or other coyotes won’t return. Just that it’s likely to be a random, rare thing.
The trapper has a financial incentive in convincing you that the coyotes have set up a den nearby.
Better to just properly coop the chickens to protect them. I’d ask your local farm store type place.
We’ve got coyotes and fisher cats in our woods, and bears.
cjrossi
January 31, 2014 at 10:20 pm
Agreed with another poster that you should NEVER let your dog chase a coyote. They do this intentionally in packs to lead a dog into an ambush. He should be kept inside or restrained until the issue is resolved. I honestly think killing it will be one of your only choices. Animal control isn’t going to help you, and its obvious this animal has little fear of humans and will not stop any time soon.
That pricing for the trapper is absurd. In my area, if I posted free coyote hunting on my property, people would be BEGGING me to allow them to take the animal.
I would just try posting in your neighborhood or asking if anyone is up for a hunt. You may find somebody willing to pay YOU for the privilege.
Gina
January 31, 2014 at 10:47 pm
Been hunting coyote here in the Badlands and prairies of the Dakotas for 50 years.
Nothing beats a “line of sight” dog like an Airedale (better for the hardscrabble of the Badlands) or an Irish Wolf Hound/Greyhound mix (better for wide open spaces of the prairie). And they’re big enough to take care of business without a hunter and a rifle.
Coyote are tough to track by scent, they’re too quick for a hunter following a hounds nose. They’re sneakier and faster than a fox. They usually circle around behind you and the hounds in a decreasing spiral and breakout across existing scent trails after several rotations completely fooling hounds and hunters. I’ve actually watched them do it from a plane.
An alternative is during denning in the spring.
I send out Beagles to search out dens and when they find one they are chased back to me and a waiting rifle.
I lived in Virginia twenty years and never encountered one but I know they’re there.
Another reason might be I owned Airedales when I lived there.
I would have to modify my techniques for the woods but an Airedale doesn’t.
They also make great house pets for the price of your trapper.
RScott
OURScott
January 31, 2014 at 11:43 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SoKA2OLJ8hs
If they have a sense of humor you could show them that video…
Good luck with those pesky “geniuses”… We have an over abundance of them in WV too.
TokeLover-WV
February 1, 2014 at 12:16 am
I am going to be accused of being a bleeding heart – but fwiw.
Coyotes are a huge problem here in Ontario, there have been many studies, and much public education – both for farmers with livestock and urban people with small pets. Just yesterday I heard on the news a women walking her toy poodle on lead in an urban area was stalked and threatened by a coyote (which wanted to eat the poodle). We have had several instances where people walking with small dogs have been attacked and in a couple cases, the dog was loose and eaten.
Long story short: Science has overwhelmingly concluded that shooting coyotes will solve a short term problem. I say short term because unlike wolves, coyotes will not be diminished when they loose their mate. They actually breed MORE.
They are NOT transitory.
When their territory becomes vacant (due to trapping or shooting) they REPLENISH in larger numbers.
I`ve walked my dogs in the bush with coyotes for over a decade and personally have had many coyote encounters. All were nonlethal until a year or so ago, when my dog trapped a coyote in the brush. The coyote ripped the dogs side open. I watched at one time the male coyote literally `wait“ for my Doberman – luring her to follow him while his mate ran in the opposite direction. My GSD took after the mate.
I have to admire their cunning.
My advice to you is to forget about trapping them. There was a big uproar in Toronto Ontario a couple winters ago when a coyote began stalking urban homes in the city eating little dogs. The city hired a professional trapper – they put out multiple traps with bait and waited. The coyote was never caught and to this day – they have yet to find it.
Instead of trying to manage the coyote – manage your home. Your chickens are sitting ducks and coyotes are opportunists. When they know a food source is available they will return .
Spend your money on a chicken coup with strong wire and fencing. Make sure it is fenced and secure top, sides and bottom – and keep your dog indoors and safe at night. If you have other livestock, consider getting a Jenny ( an attack donkey!). I`m serious – donkeys can make great protectors of livestock, particularly goats and sheep and while they may take a bit of conditioning, donkeys kick butt.
I cannot be certain, but I believe you could put your chickens in the same fenced area as a donkey with a handful of sheep or goats. The point is they have to `pack` together, so you keep the area reasonably small. The guard donkey people would educate you on the set-up and expectations.
The downside to a donkey is your dog- donkey`s have a mortal fear and hatred of dogs and wolves and by extension coyotes and you would have to make sure the dog is never loose or near it.
A pack of coyotes will kill your dog if threatened and there have been cases of Dalmatians being tied out in yards in urban areas and attacked by coyotes.
Here in Ontario this past winter was exceptionally mild with little snow and apparently this made it WORSE for coyotes because animals normally weakened by cold and limited food sources were not hindered. So coyotes came closer to urban areas to hunt. If you have had a mild winter, this may be a contributing problem.
With increased legislation for species at risk, farmers are turning to `guardian`animals. Attached is a link. Donkeys are one option – llamas are another – but if you had large predators for example, then you get a big wonking dog like a Pyr or an Anatolian.
I prefer to live with nature rather than do battle with it every day – . But whatever works for you.
Chix: rehab is for quitters
February 1, 2014 at 12:32 am